In the introduction to his program “Fighting For The Faith”, Chris Rosebrough took some time outlining his thoughts about Alex Farncomb’s sermon “I’m Happy Without Jesus” in the lead-up to reviewing the segment.

Chris Rosebrough states:

“We’re going to be listening to a sermon from a young guy there at c3 Church, from their Summer Series…I’ll describe what it is we’re going to be listening to here. This is a gentleman who clearly is, let’s put it this way, he’s reading. He’s reading theology, he’s wrestling with theology and I am convinced that this young man is very close to having a crisis of conscience. And the reason why is because true, good, solid biblical doctrine and theology is not going to do him well at C3 Church and ultimately he’s heading towards a collision. A collision, and the collision is going to be between what he’s seeing in God’s Word, what he’s wrestling with, and what’s happening there at C3 Church with men like Phil Pringle.

And so we’re going to listen to his sermon and we’re going to spend some time working with it and kind of showing what’s missing, because with his sermon , there’s some things that are ok, and then there’s some stuff that’s like ‘hmmm’. And then there’s some stuff that makes you go, ok, he’s reading, he’s got something, he’s got a bee in his bonnet….he’s theologically working with stuff and he’s actually wresting with it and so we’re going to provide, if you would, a friendly sermon review and I mean this. He’s not way, way far out there on the lunatic fringe. No, this is a guy, who theologically sounds like he’s becoming a fish out of water.

This is an interesting sermon. The reason why I say that, Alex is a smart guy, he’s been reading, he’s been studying and he doesn’t quite understand it yet, that his study of God’s Word, in trying to get it, understand it in depth is going to cause a major collision with what is actually happening and being taught at C3 Church and this should be an interesting sermon because clearly the guy is wrestling, but at the same time he’s also a bundle of really bad theology and doctrines.”

Like this:

Chris Rosebrough from “Fighting for the Faith” recently reviewed Phil Pringle’s sermon, “Parable of the Dog.”

Phil Pringle bases this message not on Scripture, but rather, on his own life experiences. This means the title is misleading since Phil Pringle isn’t teaching a parable (it’s an anoalogy).

Furthermore, Pringle pushes a works based righteousness whereby you’re saved by your good works rather than trusting in the assurance of the Gospel that Christ died for your sins and all who trust in Him are forgiven.

Rosebrough used this sermon to expose the problems with the false “Lordship” doctrine. This doctrine is designed by cult leaders to control people using reward and fear-like tactics. Considering the work of Ivan Pavlov’s “Respondent conditioning” (aka Pavlov’s Response) using dogs, it is interesting that Pringle parallels the behaviour of the “dog” with the behaviour of the Christian. This school of psychological thought is called Behaviorism and was very popular last century.

One could argue that Lorship doctrine is a spiritualized version of “respondent conditioning.” And when you hear the review, you will be hearing Pringle pit God’s salvation against God’s Lordship, which is blasphemous. This is why he was insinuating towards the end one can lose their salvation if they do not tithe.

“Warren Bennis, as quoted in In Search of Excellence, calls the leader a “social architect.” When a leader is a God-person, a God-seeker, vision is planted deep inside. God often speaks in pictures to God-seekers, especially to leaders. Pictures are the visual language of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s blueprints for what He wants to build.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 34.

Keep the above in mind as you watch this 2020 Vision campaign video.

Sorry – this is the 2020 Vision campaign video.

Here is the transcript.

TRANSCRIPT

“In the beginning, God gives us vision. This vision is to build the church worldwide. Building the church is God’s top priority in this generation. You and I are called to bring people to Christ, to make disciples and to release those people into ministry within our churches and beyond. And by doing this, we will fulfill the heavenly vision.”

VISION BUILDS FAITH

“Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible. Just like Joshua knew he could take the land of Canaan, so we know that we can build the church around the world.”

FAITH BUILDS INTENTION

“Every vision is just a fantasy without a plan. God has given us a strategy and as we follow that pathway, we will find ourselves expanding right around the world. We will raise up thousands of leaders, connect group leaders, worship leaders, assistant leaders, leaders of churches. People who will work to build the house of God and fulfill this dream God has put in our hearts.”

INTENTION BRINGS ACTION

“Faith without action is dead. Just believing that this vision is going to happen wont make it happen. This vision calls for action. It calls for people to step out. It calls for sacrifice. It calls for stretching. It calls for raising ourselves up to a level we’ve never been before. This action has taken us from seventy one churches in the year two thousand to over three hundred today. It’s taken us from five nations to thirty five nations. And today, we have influence in two hundred cities around the world.

ACTION BRINGS MOMENTUM

This momentum turns a small snowball into a massive avalanche. It’s the power of compounding effort. You and I are involved in a gathering momentum of the great power of God.

AND THE MOMENTUM OF GOD

IS UNSTOPPABLE

Because of this momentum, we are seeing six hundred people around the globe come to Christ every week in C3 churches. Because of this momentum, we’re seeing nearly thirty thousand come to Christ every year. Because of this momentum, each week seventy five thousand people are gathering to worship God. God in heaven is with us. It’s his mighty plan to build his church on the earth.

Together you and I are going to see this amazing thing come to pass. You are part of the history making group of people that are changing planet earth as we fulfill the 2020 Vision.”

CRITIQUE

It is of our opinion Pringle is purposely blurring the lines with the great commission and His 2020 Vision to get people to commit themselves to his movement and not to the true commission of Jesus Christ. If the 2020 Vision was the ‘vision’ that God gave Christians in Matthew 28 this is perfectly fine. Jesus can give us the faith to go out into the world and make disciples in His name. But is this what Pringle is reinforcing?

Not at all. Pringle opens up with the following claim: “In the beginning, God gives us vision”. Already we are off to a bad start. Where on earth does the bible teach this?

Pringle adds his own unbiblical theology into his New Age doctrine on vision: “Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible”.

Where on earth did he get this from? His liver shivers? Notice also his allusion to him being a ‘Joshua’ in this video when he says, “Just like Joshua knew he could take the land of Canaan, so we know that we can build the church around the world.””.

But who gave Joshua the strategy to “take the land of Canaan”? God.
So who supposedly gave Pringle the “strategy” to “build the church around the world”? God.

Is Phil Pringle your Joshua?

This is nothing but subliminal advertising again. While the C3 Media flash snippets of Pringle’s 2020 Vision (“1000 churches”, “500 members”), Pringle claims that “God has given us a strategy”. Wasn’t the biblical Great Commission strategy enough?

This indicates that God has given a vision to Pringle that surpasses that of Jesus’ great commission. Why can’t C3 simply follow Jesus’ commission to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”?

And what is this God-given strategy? Pringle says that if Christians are to “follow [the strategy’s] pathway, we will find ourselves expanding right around the world”. What a claim!

Whatever happens do not question the churches strategies. To do so is to challenge God. Not Pringle. Not C3 leadership. Not C3 church. But God.

Pringle then goes on to purposely misappropriate and reword the scripture in James 2 to his advantage. He reworded the scripture “faith without works is dead” to “faith without action is dead”. He then used this verse to convince his listeners to get on board with his 2020 Vision. A pastor should NOT use the scriptures for his gain like this. Pringle used this scripture to justify people to submit to his divine authority through the infallible 2020 vision God supposedly gave him.

For Pringle to claim God gave him a divine vision and strategy to fulfill but has the audacity to twist his God’s Word like this is satanic. This was not an accident. This was scripted. This was a deliberate tactic to con people to side with his vision.

Using Nazi ideas – the volk

Furthermore, God can’t fulfill His vision without your help! You must help God! Pringle says, “Just believing that this vision is going to happen wont make it happen. This vision calls for action. It calls for people to step out. It calls for sacrifice. It calls for stretching. It calls for raising ourselves up to a level we’ve never been to before.”

Behind all this vision talk is a very Hitler-esque push. Pringle is elevating and attributing a human ‘power’ or a ‘force’ to God. According to Pringle this, “momentum [that] turns a small snowball into a massive avalanche” is the “great power of God”. No. This is volkism. A Nazi philosophy. In Hitler’s work “Mein Kampf” (1923), he let us understand some key points what the ‘volk’ was and how the ‘volk’ worked. Here is a good summary of the volk:

In his book ‘Mein Kampf’ (‘My Struggle’) published in 1923, Hitler set out quite clearly his political ideas. They can be summarised as follows:

… Mankind’s natural unit is the Volk, or people, of which the German Volk is the greatest.

The state only exists to serve the Volk, and both morality and truth are to be subservient to this principle.

The Volk must be headed by a Fuhrer, or leader, who must have absolute authority.

Hitler says about the leader of the volk,

“In that way an eternal ideal, which has everlasting significance as a guiding star to mankind, must be adapted to the exigencies of human frailty so that its practical effect may not be frustrated at the very outset through those shortcomings which are general to mankind. The exponent of truth must here go hand in hand with him who has a practical knowledge of the soul of the people, so that from the realm of eternal verities and ideals what is suited to the capacities of human nature may be selected and given practical form.”

So are we really seeing a move of God Pringle? Or are we seeing you behave like a “social architect”, to construct a volk for your own personal interests? Isn’t God communicating to you the “language of the Holy Spirit to reveal [His] blueprints for what He wants to build”? Or are you playing with peoples ideals to manipulate them to further your agendas? Jesus Christ said,

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

What then does Jesus tell us to do?

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”

We are seeing the reverse with the 2020 vision. God supposedly has bent the knee to Pringle and given Phil the authority in heaven and earth through the “2020 Vision” to make people and churches join his volk (“the great power of God”).

Pringle is not saying the “power of God’ is emphasised through the preaching of the gospel which proclaims that Jesus is The Power and The Authority of God personified. Instead Pringle is pushing the idea that thy volk is truth and power, insisting that you be “part of the history making group of people that are changing planet earth as we fulfill the 2020 Vision”.

Can you see what is taking the focus now? Not Christ and his great commission. The focus is now on Pringle, his 2020 vision and those who bend the knee to it in his movement. Pringle’s battle cry is for you to be part of a history making crew that are changing the world because they are fulfilling the 2020 Vision.

So it should be established that Pringle is using clever marketing gimmicks and lies to deceive his congregation into accepting his fuhrer’s vision. This is man is making his own church with out God’s Spirit. Pringle is teaching the power of God is emphasised through the volk under his “god-given” vision and “god-given” strategy.

A Demonic Faith

The scriptures make it clear that it is God alone that gives us the faith to believe through Christ. Not so with Pringle. Pringle says,

VISION BUILDS FAITH

“Vision from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul. As soon as we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible.”

However, the writer of Hebrews doesn’t tell us to look to visions to build faith. Nor does the writer tell us that visions “from God always boosts faith from the inside of your soul”. Nor does the writer say that when “we hear the magnitude of what God is calling us to do, we find faith rising on the inside that this is possible”. Instead, we read this:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

Whatever gave this vision and teaching to Phil Pringle is not of God. Phil Pringle has replaced God with himself, speaking his own CEO vision to condition people and control them for his own agenda. Let us be clear: when Phil Pringle is speaking the vision to his congregation, they are NOT hearing “the magnitude of what God is calling [them] to do”. They are not “faith rising on the inside”. Instead, scriptures CLEARLY say this:

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17

This vision is nothing but a “weight” which members at C3 should “also lay aside”. Hopefully we have made it clear that this is Pringle’s vision – not God’s. This vision is nothing but a godly facade hiding the fact that:

Pringle is calling YOU to action.

Pringle is calling YOU to step out.

Pringle is calling YOU to sacrifice whatever it takes to accomplish his desires.

This is very different to what we see Luke observing in the early church.

” … the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” – Acts 2:47

As Paul said to the church in Galatians:

“Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.”

In our first article, we established that Phil Pringle has promoted emphatically that his God-given 2020 Vision is to have “1000 churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members”.

So what on earth does Pringle mean by ‘vision’? Where does it come from? Who gives it? How does it work? What is it’s purpose? How should people react or behave around someone with ‘vision’? Is it a Christian teaching?

In this article, we will provide teachings of Phil Pringle’s irrational ‘vision’ doctrine. This article will continue to grow as we collect more information on Pringle’s ‘vision’ doctrine. We hope this post can help you begin to understand how ingrained this un-Christian ‘vision’ is with C3 church growth and the man Phil Pringle.

Similar to Pringle’s doctrine on faith, his doctrine on vision can also be associated with paganism. If anything, his ‘vision’ doctrine sounds more like spell casting or spell binding rituals to bind people to fulfill his personal desires. You will not find Phil Pringle’s bizarre ‘vision’ doctrine found anywhere in the bible.

IS PHIL PRINGLE ‘THE ONE’?

Here are quotes from Phil Pringle’s books, blogs and sermons.

BOOK: FAITH

“I know that there are some people who are perpetually negative. I sincerely believe that if you want to fly with the eagles you cannot afford to walk with the turkeys. I will walk away from those people when they start to attack the vision.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 75.

“There is a screen within our mind upon which three projections are jostling for prime time… But then there is God. He has a projector with a preset, wonderful destiny as the main feature. As we enter the Spirit through praise and worship, God will form His vision within our thinking. We pray the prayer of faith. The vision of the answer comes to mind and we see it, in living colour. Jesus himself gained faith from the Father through visions. He declared that He did nothing that He did not first see His Father doing. If Jesus could see His Father do it, He had no doubt that He could. Once the vision of the fulfillment of your dream has been planted in your mind, bring it in to your prayer life.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 102.

“Once the vision of the fulfillment of your dream has been planted in your mind, bring it in to your prayer life. Each time you pray the picture to mind and meditate on it. Pray over it. See it happening. Destroy all the images of failure. Replace them with the image of success.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 102-103.

“Right now in my life I spend much time dreaming over my visions of faith. I know this works. I would be a fool to ignore it. Remember, one of the mightiest keys in the Kingdom of Heaven is faith. Vision is a major part of faith, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith is directly contrasted to natural eye sight.” – Phil Pringle, Faith, 2001, pg 103.

BOOK: YOU THE LEADER

“Warren Bennis, as quoted in In Search of Excellence, calls the leader a “social architect.” When a leader is a God-person, a God-seeker, vision is planted deep inside. God often speaks in pictures to God-seekers, especially to leaders. Pictures are the visual language of the Holy Spirit to reveal God’s blueprints for what He wants to build.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 34.

“Vision is the gift of faith in action. We see this principle lived out in the realm of church leadership quite frequently. C. Peter Wagner concludes that among all the leaders of growing churches that were studied by what is now known as the Fuller Theological Seminary, there is at least one commonality- the gift of faith. He writes,

A study of the largest churches in America has led to the conviction that the faith of the pastors was one of the main contributing reasons for the church’s growth. The spiritual gift of faith was a common denominator found in the pastors of the largest churches.

George Barna also conducted extensive research on church life in the last decade. He states, “My work with churches has led me to the conclusion that the single most important element in having an effective and life-changing ministry is to capture God’s vision for your ministry.”” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 35.

“No matter what the realm of leadership – the home, the workplace, the church, or the community – the vision is crucial. Leaders must funnel their faith into action so that life-changing results.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 35.

“Leadership is clear vision. Without eyes, or without light to aid those eyes, we grope in the dark, unsure of our steps, cautious, afraid, and moving slowly. This is not a leader. A leader is bold and can see the future. “Seeing clearly” is imperative for the leader.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 35-36.

“Faith is what God works through to effect the visions He has given us. He speaks to us, and then, with the faith we have, we believe what He says. Faith is the conception of what is possible before it is seen: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, for the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). By faith we believe in the impossible becoming possible.

This is what leadership is all about. Leaders see what no one else does. In Ephesians 3:20 NASB – “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think…” – the Greek word for “think” is noieo, which means “to exercise the mind or intellect in comprehending, heeding, considering, pondering, perceiving, thinking, understanding, observing, seeing, conceiving.” Leaders actually conceive a reality within themselves before the event happens. This is what a vision really is. It is not just a hope, a wish, or a desire. It is a knowledge that a certain thing is going to take place because of a number of factors:

• God has spoken a strategy that works.
• The strategy has been adopted.
• Realistic plans have been made.
• The team can see it happening.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 35-36.

“When we meditate in the manner described in Scripture, we take our minds into the realm of conception and the place of perception of the purposes of God. Great leaders of the bible, such as Joshua and David, thought deeply and continuously about subjects that were invisible to them until they became realities perceived by their spirits. We read in Joshua 1:8 and throughout the Psalms that they meditated on the Word of God until it became a reality within them, not just a theology. They meditated upon visions of the future until they knew that what they were seeing was more than just imagination.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 36-37.

“This same conceiving process is what God employs in church growth. We supernaturally see our churches growing; we sense the growth within our spirits. Growth is a reality we experience before we actually have it.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 37.

“Good leaders hold positive, views of the future. We believe God fulfills our dreams, and our dreams are enlarged. Our desires exceed what we currently have and where we currently are.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 37.

“We ask God to hear our prayers. As we read, meditate, study, and speak the incredible promises of God (2 Peter 1:4), our faith grows. God speaks to us at our level of faith (Acts 14:9-10), and we find ourselves believing what He has said (Romans 10:17). His truth becomes a reality within us until we can see it (Hebrews 11:1). Our organization is larger. It has grown. We speak it because it is real. We are not pretending. We know something that did not come to our consciousness by way of the natural senses.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 37.

“Another faculty has released this knowledge: our spirit. It is God’s Word in our spirit. It creates a reality that registers in our spirit. We live by this spiritual knowledge and walk in its light.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 38.

“Goal setting is another integral part of achieving any dream. It is what takes a supernatural vision into the material realm where we can see it being accomplished.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005pg 40.

“Goal setting is another integral part of achieving any dream. It is what takes a supernatural vision into the material realm where we can see it being accomplished.

C. Peter Wagner has stated,
For reasons I do not fully understand, some power is released through setting positive goals that otherwise remain dormant. But although I cannot explain it as well as I wish it could, it is a biblical principle that God seems to honor. Goal setting is the modern biblical equivalent to faith, without which it is impossible to please Him (Heb. 11:6). Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Things hoped for are, of course, future. Putting substance on the future is what happens in a faith projection (goal-setting) exercise. ” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 40.

“Dr. David Yonngi Cho, who pastors the world’s largest church, says of his church’s remarkable growth. “The number one requirement for having a real church growth- unlimited church growth- is to set goals.”” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 40.

“Remember, Those who have the gift of faith are growth-oriented, goal-oriented, optimistic, and confident. – C. Peter Wagner.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 42.

“Vision could be just as well described as “vibration.” The leader feels the vision as a vibration. He or she then imparts the feeling to others, who accept the vision and run with their leader to make it happen. The leader has seen something that ignites fire in their souls.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 43.

“A vision is something worth living for, and it is something worth dying for. In fact, if it is not worth dying for, it is not worth living for. Brave, godly martyrs throughout history have proven time and again that what we as Christians live for is worth dying for.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 43.

“The leader feels the pulse of a burning passion and communicates that heat at every opportunity. He or she lives the dream, breathes the vision, sleeps the mission, and eats the goals every day. The leader shares those goals all the time with everyone. It is a vibration the entire organization can feel.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 44.

“When you have to set down the rules all the time, you know people have not caught the dream. People who have caught the vision instinctively know what is appropriate and what is required. They don’t care what it takes; they live to make the dream reality. At the risk of sounding unrealistically romantic, I have to say that unless the hearts of the team members beat with the pulse of the leader’s dream, it’s never going to fly.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 44.

“The leader is the bell ringer, the trumpet blower, the drum beater, the vibration maker, and the vision caster… A great leader imparts the burden, inspires commitment, and sets the pace for achievement of God’s purpose.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 45.

“A leader always has one major message, and this weaves into everything he or she does. It remains the primary focus. A leader is to some degree a prophet, a person with a message. Great leader [sic] see things that others don’t. They preach it until others can see it as well. Their message supports the mission. A leader is a preacher, a person who communicates the fire of the mission. Not all preachers are leaders, but all great leaders will be preachers of one sort or another.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 204.

“The team members we choose need to be able to fight for us and for our vision. The people we choose must have the ability to fight and win. They need to have proven themselves in spiritual battles, and they need to have triumphed. They need to be overcomers. They need to display consistently positive attitudes. These people do not just attend, support, or watch, but they must fight-for us! They shouldn’t fight only for their own victories. They need to fight for the church. They need to defend the pastor when he’s criticized and fight for the church’s reputation, spiritual health, and finances. They need to be genuine soldiers for God.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 265.

“Abraham’s method is far preferable to getting someone from elsewhere. If people do come from outside, give them time to be “baptised” into the church, so they “own” the vision like everybody else. To become true sons and daughters of the church they need to drink the milk (accept the teaching), imbibe the spirit (accept the attitude of the church), and accept the name (be proud of belonging to your congregation).” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 269.

“The people we choose must display real unity with and affinity for the vision of the senior minister and the church. In the process of selecting people for roles in the church, we ask their opinion of the leadership, the rest of the team, and the church in general. We are not looking for yes-man, but if a person has problems with the senior minister and the church, then obviously he or she will cause problems on the team and in the church.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 289.

“Whoever buys into the vision God has for the congregation develops an affinity for all that is going on.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 289.

“The leader must constantly reinforce and restate the vision.

Though the team may have heard it many times before, restating the vision keeps everyone focused on the right things. Whatever the leader speaks on, the vision is woven into the topic so that every subject is viewed with the philosophy and priorities of the ministry in mind.” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 292.

“I will build my church. –Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus has a vision. He has a job to be done. He has determined to build His church. He calls men and women to work with Him to accomplish this dream. In the army of people He has enlisted are a creed called leaders.

Jesus raises up people as servants to Himself and as leaders of His people in order to fulfill His dream. He raises this army to lead His flock. He raises leaders to carry the plan of salvation to the world.

God has lofty reasons for raising leaders. Jesus has declared that He will build His church. The rock of manifest revelation is what Jesus builds His church upon.

Manifest revelation is the flash of light from heaven that pierces the souls of men and women. This is light, the life of God Himself. It is like a piece of God to us. It is food for our spirits. It is what faith is because it is clear knowing-not just thinking or hoping. It is a deep inner knowledge from heaven above.

God’s great leaders lead by revelation. Leaders must receive revelation from the Lord and take their people in that direction. It is vital that we understand what we are to preach, what we are to do, and what kind of organization we are to build through revelation from the Lord.

We must be motivated by the spiritual passion Jesus places within us. We need to build on the revelation God has given us, on our strengths, on who we are in Christ.

Good ideas are not good enough. They need to be God ideas. Just because someone else’s methods work does not mean they will work for us. God plants a unique set of gifts within each of us as leaders, enabling us to do a particular work for Him in a particular way. If we deny those, opting for something else that appeals to us, we forsake the means by which God wants to give us success (1Timothy 4:14).” – Phil Pringle, You The Leader, 2005, pg 305.

BOOK: MOVING IN THE SPIRIT

“Visions from the prophets are given to motivate their hearers to action.

One of the most sensational things on earth is a vision from God. Vision ignites fire in our spirit. It births the ‘prayer of faith’. It is imperative we see in the Spirit so we understand the will of God.” – Phil Pringle, Moving In The Spirit, pg 59.

“The gift of faith is identified by unnatural boldness in prayer and preaching. It deals with others.

It is visionary. It views the future with absolute assurance and hope.
It thinks positively. It hates negativity.
It feeds on who we are in Christ and also our potential in Him.
It speaks to other people, to situations and often to itself.
Faith dreams and meditates on the finished results of prayer. It does not ponder anxieties.
It lifts others by injecting faith into their lives. It imparts the ability to believe and trust God.” – Phil Pringle, Moving In The Spirit, 1994, pg 90.

BOOK: TOP 10 QUALITIES OF A GREAT LEADER

“Whatever I want to achieve, I simply focus everyone on that point by using every means I have. The effective leader points people in the direction they are meant to be going. Without direction people wonder aimlessly. This is the point of leadership. We are meant to take people somewhere.

Often, it will be somewhere they don’t want to go, so the skill that convinces followers of the journey comes through communicating the vision, the goals, and the strategy to get there. If I am raising money for a building project, I preach on it. I also ask people to tell their stories of the benefits they have received through giving. We create up-market brochures and magazines that send the signal that we are serious about raising serious amounts of money. We regularly reinforce the message to our leaders. Our people must be refocused regularly. Everyone gets distracted. When we are distracted, our resources, energy, time, relationships, and money go to the distraction.

Leaders’ constant tasks are continually to bring our primary purpose to the forefront. Leaders’ pride can prevent us from repeating ourselves, casting the vision again and again. Yet this is the fuel of the organization. People are fired up by the vision. It reminds them why they are doing what they do, why they are going the extra mile, why they are making the sacrifices.” – Phil Pringle, Top 10 Qualities of a Great Leader, 2007, pg 76.

I thought I had already ‘seen’ in verse 4. The point is we ‘see’ before we ‘see’. What do you see in your future. Dream your dream everyday. Your imagination is part of the creative process in your life.

Can you see sons & daughters coming from distant places? Can you see clients, customers, friends, great people coming into your life?

“Ken(?) and John called me the arch bishop the other night. But it’s sort of like that to present to you the over-arching culture and vision of where we’re going. And I really enjoy doing that.” – Phil Pringle, http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/8802074: (05:51-6:02), C3 Atlanta, 8:45am Sermon: ‘?’, 08/08/10.

For a very long period of time we have seen Pringle play word games and use deceptive means to convince people that his prophetic 2020 Vision from God is being fulfilled. The reason why we are tackling this issue now is because of recent footage we managed to find online.
In our first article we established that Pringle had received a ‘God-give’ vision to PLANT 1000 churches by the year 2020.

In this article we will examine how Phil Pringle is purposely going out of his way to convince his members that his church is PLANTING churches daily to ‘fulfill’ the 2020 vision.

IS PHIL PRINGLE YOUR HABAKKUK?

In the past, we critiqued a giving sermon that had Pringle twist the definition of ‘church plant’. We were being overtly cautious at the time because we believed our critics would accuse us falsely of making up the transcript or find some minor fault with us if we accused Phil Pringle of being highly deceptive.

We are almost forced to believe that Dr. Phil Pringle doesn’t have a basic knowledge of church missions and biblical terminology. Pringle is calling ‘church planting’ a “group of pastors” to be “thirty six churches” and “a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches” who possibly “wants to hook” into the C3 movement…

Pringle continues to make dishonest and unsupported claims suggesting that his organisation is responsible for one church being planted every day in Jesus’ name. Pringle says, “I know you were doubting out there but it’s okay. I have my moments too. And so you and I believing together- we’ll start to see ten churches a day being planted and growing”…

Pringle begins to mix his phrases through his address so that it becomes difficult to know what Pringle actually means…

… previously in his message to garner funding he only talked about the number of churches that were being added to his movement, not how many people “will come to Christ all around the world today”. We can rightly conclude he is still talking about the 120 churches he was talking about previously because he confirmed that these churches were coming into the C3 Movement, “right now in Jesus’ name. That’s just in four weeks time”.

Pringle continues, “That’s just in the existing churches. Now once thesenew ones are coming in. And they come into Christ, they become disciples, they become empowered and they become ministries themselves”

It is important to ask whether more accurately these alleged thousands being saved from his aforementioned C3 church ‘plants’ are not rather those people in existing churches being rebranded into the C3 fold. This is flawed thinking to confuse such people who join the C3 banner with salvation into Christ. The conclusions we come too after such dialogue is not good.

If Pringle is saying churches who join C3 “come into Christ, …become disciples,” “become empowered” and “become ministries themselves”, that would make C3 a cult. That is, if Pringle believes their movement is the only true church with the right teachings and formulas for salvation then he himself has set his movement to be a cult…

The sermon that we critiqued was given on the 24th of October, 2010. We managed to get video footage of Phil Pringle later that week repeating the same false material to his staff and C3 college students.

First we want to show a video snippet that features Pringle at the start of his sermon portraying himself as a type of Habakkuk. In this snippet, Pringle stresses that leaders shouldn’t have a vision but a ‘God Vision’. As he is the leader, Pringle attempts to establish at the beginning of this sermon that he is a ‘leader’ leading by ‘example’ with his ‘God Vision’. Pringle is the Habbakuk of C3. He is the watchman and knows the future where the movement is heading. He has the vision to go forward. (Heaven forbid you question his infallible God-given direction.)

Here is the video. Below is the transcript.

“I just want to touch on a few things here today for all of us. As students and staff. Number one, is uh- vision: the importance of it. And how much we need that if we’re gonna change this world. We won’t achieve anything without a vision. But it needs to be a God vision. Okay?

Just having a vision is really not the answer. And so in all the business manuals and coaching, training, you’ll hear about how important vision is. But that’s just a vision people are dreaming up in their own mind. We need to have a God vision inside of us.” – Phil Pringle, 00:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.

“Empowering saints is giving. Is delegation. It’s getting people to do things for God. And- and uh, (hm-hm!), so we- we want to release people all the time to get stuff done. And I think it’s awesome! Every- I mean, every week, just about, we see a brand new musician up on the stage. And uh- to get people preaching in chapel. All these things. But the ultimate goal is that we will get people to plant churches and grow churches all around the world.

In the last- uh- (I haven’t- I haven’t done a really detailed study on this though). Well let me- let me explain this. And I mentioned it on Sunday but for those who didn’t hear, I’ll say it again.

In Bali, (which was what? Four weeks ago? Four weeks ago? I think it was. One month? Yeah. [Crowd laughs] Thanks! Thanks Jake! It wasn’t four weeks. It was a month ago), and ah- In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.

So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]. So I said, “Okay”. And I really wanted to clear this up. I said, “It’s not just you joining? You’re actually- all these guys are coming?”

“Yep.”

Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches. Right there, okay, four weeks ago. Then, another one of our overseers, has just come back from Indonesia. And he says, uh, he’s just having, he’s got thirty six churches just on their way in as well. That’s- ah- how many’s that? Ninety- ninety- four! Ninety four churches, okay?

Then, ah, in- in Africa, East Africa, the uh, the guys over there said they got about a hundred pastors and leaders. And there were thirty churches in Tanzania, Congo, bla-bla-bla, somewhere else. I thought, “I don’t know if they’re brand new or half new or whatever”. So I thought, “Oh! Just count half of them”. So that’s like a hundred and- that’s a hundred and ten. Hundred and nine actually.

Then Simon told me that he’s talking to a guy in Bulgaria. Ah- who is a really good guy. He’s got sixteen churches. And he is also hooking up. He’s got a big church, one of the biggest in Bulgaria. It’s about six hundred. That’s a big church in that part of the world. So that’s one hundred and twenty. One hundred and twenty churches in one month. That adds up to a growth rate of around about four churches a day. Okay? You know, like- I s- I- I know! I know! So, what are you doing here?

You’re getting ready to look after these churches. You’re getting ready to grow these churches.” – Phil Pringle, 24:16, C3 Church Sydney and C3 College combined staff and students meeting 27 October 2010, http://vimeo.com/16260821, Uploaded October 27, 2010 6:30 PM.

SO WHAT? WHAT ARE WE SEEING?

Let us believe Phil Pringle for a moment. Let us establish for a second that the 2020 Vision IS from God. Pringle has emphatically stated that this 2020 ‘God Vision’ or ‘God-given vision’ is to PLANT 1000 churches. But what are we seeing? We are seeing a man trying to convince his various audiences that the 2020 Vision is being fulfilled for the glory of God.

But were 120 churches PLANTED in his movement over one month? No.

If Pringle was following the ‘God Given’ 2020 vision, he would be planting churches and not rebranding, converting or assimilating churches into his movement. If he is not planting church, isn’t Pringle opposing the ‘God Given’ 2020 Vision?

What else are we seeing? Let’s say that those 120 church joined the C3 movement. What does this mean?

It means that a third of his churches were established in ONE MONTH. If any person examined his claim in ratio to the current number of churches in his movement a few months later, they’d know that Pringle was lying to them. Where are these church ‘plants’ today?

This actually raises more questions. Is the C3 Church Movement mainly made up of church plants or rebranded churches? If the C3 Church movement fills up with redbranded churches, does this mean that the movement itself is failing God and His 2020 Vision?

We are about to discover that the C3 movement is mainly filled with rebranded churches.

ARE CHURCHES REALLY BEING PLANTED OR REBRANDED?

Whenever a C3 Church plant is about to be undertaken in the C3 Church movement, the news is often huge. For example, leading up to it’s establishment, Phil Pringle and other leaders were monotonously advertising, Facebooking and twittering the C3 Hong Kong church plant. If churches were being planted everyday, Pringle and his leadership would be plastering the news everywhere. However, they don’t.

We would like to conclude that the majority of C3 churches are not church plants but takeovers. To say that churches are being rebranded is not accurate. A takeover is more appropriate since C3 specifically targets churches and assimilates them into it’s collective.

What should be evident in the above transcripts is how C3 uses their conferences to target and market to churches to join their movement. In the name of ‘relevancy’, a C3 conference can easily make local churches feel inadequate, boring and irrelevant. Who cares about the local church and cultural sensitivity when C3 is the answer to your church’s problem! (Who could resist the enticing relevant music, the flashy lights, and the manufactured presence of God?)

Consider again what Pringle said in the above transcripts.

“In Bali, we had our South- East Asia conference, okay.

So a guy comes out. He says, “I’m joining the movement with my churches”. I said, “How many churches have you got?” He said, “Forty eight 48”. In a place called Myanmar [Burma]…

Then another guy from Indonesia, (Philippines, sorry!), he was joining with eight churches. And then we were celebrating planting two churches at that time. All up that’s fifty eight churches…”

“And then Simon came back from the European conferenceand he met a guy in Bulgaria who has sixteen churches. And he wants to hook in as well.”

May we remind you again what Pringle said how he wanted people to see his Presence Conference:

“We really want to become more cross-denominational, not parochial about just being C3… And it’s so important that we just, you know, spill the banks, go over, lower the wall, let the water run through the city and be a blessing. And not out there just to drag people into- you know- and to get people into and- many people will get involved in what we’re doing and that’s good. But I don’t want that to be the only motivation that we have. I think that if we have the motivation to be a blessing beyond us, that would be a really good- a really good idea.” – Phil Pringle, C3 Leaders Meeting With Phil Pringle – May 2011, Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgTdtB-ha0s, Uploaded by CCCOF on May 5, 2011.

So we can rule out the fact that this ‘vision’ is about ‘planting churches’. We’ve now established this to be false. While we can argue that C3 does rebrand churches, it doesn’t accurately describe the malicious scheming and marketing attempts they use to target vulnerable churches through their conferences around the world. If what is said in the transcripts is true, then one third of all C3 Churches are takeovers. However, C3 appears to inform us that they have taken over more churches than they have planted.

If people are still not convinced that the 2020 Vision is a lie, this next bit of information should convince you.

THW 20/20 VISION FAILING IN VISION

We wrote an article back in December of 2011. In it we had screen grabs and older information on the location of C3 Churches around the world .

You will be taken to this map. You will notice links at the bottom of the right hand corner: “VIEW: ALL | PLANTS”. This wasn’t available two years ago. This is recently added. If you click ‘ALL’ you will see this map:

So why does the C3 Church Global have a link to PLANTS? When you click the ‘PLANTS’ link, you will see the following map:

Going by the newer information what are we looking at? There are only seven church plants in America? Five church plants in Europe? Three church plants in Europe? Four church plants in Asia? Four in the South East Asia Pacific rim? Four in Australia? About nine in New Zealand and a few around Fiji?

With the information given, that is about fourty churches in total that C3 Church considers ‘Church Plants’. Yet the C3 movement brags of planting anywhere between 240 to 400 churches worldwide? And what are the churches in blue? Church takeovers?

If this information is true, than Phil Pringle has failed spectacularly to fulfill his 2020 Vision. If God did give Pringle the 2020 Vision, then we have the C3churchglobal website exposing Pringle for the false prophet that he is.

NOTE: We would like to ask for your help next article. If you can help us find churches that C3 has taken over, please email us links, screen grabs, testimonies or other forms of evidence. Our email is c3churchwatch@hotmail.com.

Around the world for almost ten years, Phil Pringle has been promoting his 20/20 Vision. While we do not believe this vision is from God, we think it is necessary to see if Phil Pringle is indeed fulfilling the vision that ‘God’ gave him.

In this article we wish to document Pringle’s emphasis of PLANTING churches by the year 2020. We apologise to readers in advance if what is stressed in this article becomes monotonous. Hopefully, you’ll understand what we’re trying to establish in articles to come.

PLANTING 1000 CHURCHES BY THE YEAR 2020?

CHC’s propaganda paper, City News reports (emphasis ours):

C3 Church International, a global movement of over 240 churches was founded by Phil Pringle.

Pringle and his wife, Christine, started C3 Church in 1980 in Sydney, Australia, today, one of the most exciting and influential churches in the Asia Pacific region. Pringle’s 2020 vision is to plant 1,000 churches in 15 regions by the year 2020. This has resulted in a global movement of vibrant churches, which have been birthed as a result of his leadership and vision. Today, Pringle maintains an uncompromised passion to see cities changed by a contemporary, relevant and anointed church.

Last held in Hawaii in 2005 with an attendance of 1,100 people, the conference is part of the C3 Church movement started by Phil and Christine Pringle, senior ministers at C3 Church Oxford Falls, in Sydney, Australia. Its vision, termed “Vision 2020” is to see 1,000 churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members.

Through Vision 2020, the C3 movement has grown from 71 churches in 2000 to over 300 today; from five nations in 2000 to 35 nations today, riding on an escalating momentum of revival around the world.”

In 1980, a young couple from New Zealand arrived in Sydney with their family and the vision to start a church.

Ps. Phil and Chris Pringle held their first service with just 12 people attending, but by the mid 1980’s it had grown to over 500 people. They began to start other churches and soon independent churches also joined. As the number grew, the collection of churches became known as the Christian City Church movement (now called C3 Church).

Initially C3 began planting churches around Sydney but then expanded across Australia and then the world. Currently, C3 Church has over 230 churches worldwide – in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Region, Asia, Africa, Europe and North & South America.

The 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and C3 understands that to achieve this it must connect people to God, connect people to people and empower people for effective, joyful service.

Our History

C3 ChurchinRaleigh is a part of C3 Church International, a global movement of churches started by Ps. Phil and Christine Pringle, with a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches with an average membership of 500 by the year 2020.

We believe in faith, hope and love, a bright, colorful, positive and encouraging church atmosphere
a church that the unchurched are attracted to, filled with music, light, supernatural happenings,
vision, purpose, loving people, and great preaching.

We are irreverent, risky, fun, conservative, serious and holy.
We love people. We love each other. We really love God, and He loves us.

The above blurb helps us identify what C3 means by ‘plant’ when they say that Phil and Chris Pringle had “a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches”. The concept that is being articulated is similar to a seed. You plant a seed in the ground and it grows or builds up over time. Likewise, Pringle’s ‘vision’ gives people the idea that C3 plants a few people in a particular location and over time it grows or builds up to be a church. This concept is important for our readers to grasp.

Similar information is recorded on the C3 Winchcombe website:

“C3 Church Winchcombe is a part of C3 Church Global, an international movement of churches started by Ps. Phil and Christine Pringle, with a vision to build 1,000 vibrant local churches with an average membership of 500 by the year 2020.” – Let’s Introduce Ourselves, http://www.c3winchcombe.org.uk/about.html, Accessed 10/01/2012.

We can conclude that there is a template for other C3 churches to use on their websites, communicating that the Pringle’s want to plant and build 1,000 churches by the year 2020.

If we now go to the c3iglobal website we read the following,

“Our vision for C3 Church is to see 1000 Churches planted by the year 2020 with an average attendance of 500 members.” – 2020 Vision, C3 Church Global, http://c3churchglobal.com/cms/2020-vision. (Accessed 14/06/2013.)

Phil Pringle says in his personal bio on his very own C3 Church Oxford Falls website,

“My wife, Chris and I, with the kids and some good friends came to Sydney in 1980 to start a church. We had 13 people at our first service but the congregation grew rapidly and we moved buildings, bought land and built a school. We began planting churches around Sydney, then Australia, then the world; we now have close to 300 congregations in our movement. Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and we’re on target to meet this.” – About Phil & Chris Pringle, http://www2.myc3church.net/category/about-phil-chris-pringle, Accessed 30/07/2013. (Emphasis added.)

The C3ChurchGlobal website states:

“C3 Church is a place for life development. Our aim is to maximize people’s potential and help them live their best life.

Our vision is that the Church glows with the Glory of God, that men and women become disciples of Christ, and that they encounter the Presence of the Holy Spirit—they find LIFE!

This is an exciting time for C3 Church. We have a global view and perspective. We know who we are and where we’re going. Jesus said, “I will build my church.” The one Kingdom that will endure and has endured is the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Our true north is the salvation of lost people.

We will continue to plant churches all over the world so God can be found and lives transformed for eternity. By the year 2020, we will see 1000 C3 Churches in cities all over the world.

There is a lot of stuff that is wrong in the above statement which we will hopefully address in another article. However, it is emphasised again that Pringle wants to 1000 C3 Churches all over the world. His 2020 Vision is about PLANTING churches. Not rebranding churches, not converting a person who feels they have a church inside them.

Pringle has centered his C3 movement identity around the vision God gave him of ‘planting’ 1000 C3 Churches. If this is the vision God gave Pringle, you would expect Pringle to remain faithful to it right? Our next article will demonstrate that Pringle has been purposely deceptive about his 2020 Vision campaign.

We will end with what Phil Pringle says on his official Facebook page:

About

The official page for Phil Pringle.This page will not ask for any form of donation.If you receive a solicitation, pls contact rebekah.faith@myc3church.net

Biography

Phil Pringle is the Founder and President of C3 Church International, a global movement of over 240 churches, and the Senior Minister of C3 Church in Sydney Australia. Phil and his wife, Christine, started C3 Church in 1980 and it is now one of the fastest growing, exciting and powerful churches in Australia. An entire global movement of vibrant churches has been birthed as a result of Phil’s lead…ership and vision as he maintains an uncompromised passion to see cities changed by a contemporary, relevant and anointed church. Phil’s dynamic and relevant preaching has made him a much sought after speaker in both Christian and secular contexts, particularly in the areas of faith, leadership, ministry of the Holy Spirit, church building and kingdom principles of finance and giving.

My wife, Chris and I, with the kids and some good friends came to Sydney from New Zealand in 1980 to start a church. We had 13 people at our first service but the congregation grew rapidly and we moved buildings, bought land and built a school. We began planting churches around Sydney, then Australia, then the world; we now have close to 300 congregations in our movement. Our 2020 Vision is to plant and grow 1000 churches and we’re on target to meet this!

We’ve started C3 College for Ministry, Creative Arts and Counselling, as well as a television program and Oxford Falls Grammar School, all on around 25 acres at Oxford Falls.

I’ve always been passionate about the arts playing a major role in church to make her contemporary and relevant to the current world. Our Creative Arts stream has developed and graduated thousands of musicians, worship leaders, song writers, graphic artists, dancers, actors and film makers. I myself paint and exhibit around the world. I also love to write, so I’ve mixed these two elements together in books like Inspired to Pray, But God and 24 Hours That Saved The World – The Gospel of John in Art. My other books include Faith, Moving in the Spirit, Leadership Excellence, Financial Excellence, Leadership Files and You the Leader.

My great love is the local church. I believe she is the hope of our world today. When she functions in the power of the Holy Spirit and lives on the Word she will thrive. See you in Church!

City News has published an interesting interview with Phil Pringle. We would like viewers to compare the below interview with Pringle with an older article they wrote on Phil Pringle titled ‘Close Friend’ back in 2011.

In this article:

It appears Phil Pringle is attempting to distance himself from being Kong Hee’s oversight. We know for a fact that what Phil Pringle is saying below is not true. If you read the above article, Phil Pringle stated in 2011 that his prophetic office is part of the relationship he has with Kong Hee. It is clear that Pringle prides himself of being Kong Hee’s prophetic oversight.

“In the early years, I would have guided [Kong] and been something like a mentor to him, and I would still be that now, but only by his initiative, not mine.”

However, Phil Pringle may be wanting to distance himself now that the case is underway.

While promoting sex, money, power and murder in her music video clips, Sun Ho is seen by Phil Pringle as “essential to the core, the fabric and the culture of” of CHC. He also says Sun is “key to the future of City Harvest Church”. May we remind readers of Sun Ho’s legacy of raunchy entertainment. While Pringle says that Sun Ho is the “fabric” and the “culture” of City Harvest Church, she seems to lose her fabric and core Christian values to her secular music career.

Asking how Phil Pringle deals with his online critics, Phil Pringle stated that he doesn’t “even bother reading it”. Obviously, critics only give Pringle credibility in his own eyes since he says he’s “not sure [he’s] really being effective if [he hasn’t] got critics”. And how his response biblical in any way, shape or form? Isn’t Pringle demonstrating he lives in both denial and delusion?

On the same subject, Pringle associates critics to radical Arabic communities that murder Christians. Phil Pringle or Kong Hee’s critics could be either Christian or non-Christian. They could be local authority figures like parents, teachers, lawyers, judges or the average person who don’t want friends or family members to go to CHC. To associate these people with murderous, radical Muslim extremists is slanderous, unloving and divisive.

Ask yourself this question: What is doing more damage to Christianity in the City Harvest Church scandal? Who is adding persecution to the church? False teachers like Phil Pringle and Kong Hee or ‘critics’?

Think about the news group Al Jazeera that spread the news about the Kong Hee scandal through the Arab World. Did ‘critics’ get a mention? Were ‘critics’ reported in the CHC scandal and linked to spreading corruption, persecution and murders in Sinapore? Or was Al Jazeera linking the CHC scandal to false teachers like Kong Hee or Phil Pringle?

If anything, wouldn’t Phil Pringle and Kong Hee be furthering the hatred, persecution and murder of Christians in Arabic countries due to Al Jazeera reporting the CHC scandal both ‘Pastors’ are involved in? We are stunned Phil Pringle would stoop so low to associate his critics with murderous radical extremists. Doesn’t this sound like cult-like propaganda to encourage City Harvest Church members to shun critics?

CITY NEWS PROPAGANDA

Here is the article from City News,

An Interview With Phil Pringle: CHC Has A Future Of Incredible Blessing

Updated on 22 May 2013 at 8:13 amBy Theresa Tan

City Harvest Church’s advisory pastor Phil Pringle talks about the secret power of giving thanks, his deep friendship with Kong Hee and the future of CHC.

CN PHOTOS: Michael Chan.

Phil Pringle, senior minister of C3 Church in Sydney, Australia and the president of the C3 Church International, a global movement of over 240 churches, is in Singapore to conduct two weekend services back to back at CHC. He is here to support and encourage the church while CHC’s senior pastor Kong Hee and five other church leaders go through the first week of the trial against them for allegedly misusing church funds.

In this interview Pringle shares withCity News how his friendship with Kong Hee began, how giving thanks is a secret weapon, and he exhorts the congregation to see beyond the trials of the present as a purchase for a future that would be a blessing to the nations.

You taught us about giving thanks yesterday. But how do you give thanks when things are really hard, when you feel betrayed or when you feel someone’s done you a great wrong?

I think the sacrifice of praise—which the Bible calls thanksgiving, giving thanks under difficult circumstances—is the best antidote to a bad attitude, because you’re grateful to God not just in the circumstance but for the circumstance. And that’s a big difference.

Sometimes we like to say, we thank God in the circumstance even though I hate the circumstance, but the Bible is actually saying, thank God for the circumstance as well. The funny thing is as soon as you’re thankful for something or someone, you see them positively. So instead of hating or criticizing them, you now see the positive in them.

That’s why Paul thanked God for the people he was writing to, because it gave him a platform for every following comment. One of the best things a pastor can do is to thank God—for his congregation, his board, his wife and children. Even though some of those people might be frustrating him, if he thanks God for them, he’s gonna change his views and see things differently.

And once you see things differently, you actually see a strategy, a way forward. If I thank God for a problem, then I’ll find a way to deal with it because the positive mind always sees a way through. The negative mind accepts defeat and can’t find a way.

You’ve been a friend of CHC since 1992. That’s 21 years till now. What was your first meeting with Pastor Kong like?

The first time I remember meeting Pastor Kong was in a very large warehouse that he had rented, but he only had maybe 120 people. So he’s always had huge faith, stepping out in enormous ways.

The very next meeting I had with him was at our annual conference, now known as the Presence Conference. And he was on his honeymoon. He came to our conference on his honeymoon. So I was very impressed with that, and I gave him a gift so he was able to go out and buy some clothes for his wife as a present.

I think that was the beginning of the relationship, because I saw in him such a great faith, such a wonderful attitude, and I just felt that he was just going to do something incredible for God.

How would you say the relationship has developed over the years?

I think our relationship is a combination of several factors. In the early years, I would have guided him and been something like a mentor to him, and I would still be that now, but only by his initiative, not mine. But I would also treat him as a peer, a colleague, and someone that I would stand with in the faith.

There are not many people in the world I would feel that I am called to lay down my life for—and I’m not trying to be dramatic—but he would be one of them. I generally feel that over the years, my Christianity is expressed in helping people I can help, who may not necessarily be those whom others have access to, such as pastors. There are many pastors who are facing difficult times whom I feel I can be of a little help to.

But I would put Pastor Kong in a totally different category than just that because he’s a close friend. I think that we should lay down our lives for our friends. That’s what the Kingdom is. It’s a privilege for me too. It’s an honor. I’m blessed to being involved with City Harvest Church.

At Presence Conference last month, you had Pastor Kong come onstage. You really showed a lot of support for him, and after that there was a lot of negative talk on the Internet. How do you deal with that?

I don’t—I don’t even bother reading it. You know, I’ll be worried if every comment about me was positive.

Why do you say that?

Well, I’m not sure you’re really being effective if you haven’t got critics. There’s not a person who’s achieving anything in the world today who hasn’t got critics. But we’ve taken criticism all our lives for following Christ, for taking steps of faith. I don’t really bother with it. Sometimes it comes across my path and I try to toughen up and not let it affect me.

You spoke about it during your sermon (last Sunday), about the “poison” that some emails or articles carry. What if a new member in church sees something that offends them? How would you advise them to step away from it?

For a young, new person, that’s such a hard thing. I think you’ve got to be upfront and tell people how you’re feeling. In the early church there was a lot of persecution, a lot more than there is now. There are churches in the Middle East where if people know they became Christians, they could be killed.

I know of a church which last year buried 150 of its members who were killed [for being Christians]. There’s a C3 church in that same country which can’t hold meetings on a regular basis because if the locals know when they’re having a meeting they will attack, so they have to constantly change the timings, and they can’t all gather at once; it’s very underground.

So the reality of Christ coming in to a person’s life has to be very real, [not] just going to church, being religious. Because when people discover Jesus, they will pay any price. I think that’s the surest way (to stay away from the poison). But I also think if they received Christ with eyes wide open, they will see that there is a price to following Christ.

What do you see in the future of City Harvest Church?

The price it’s paying today will be the purchase of a future of incredible blessing, of great abundance. I think it will affect the world in a lot of ways, especially in terms of cell groups, culture and reaching a lost world. I think CHC will have a huge impact in China; it’ll possibly be its most major calling, but it may also affect the whole of Asia.

CHC will be celebrating its 25th anniversary next year. What should the members look towards, what should they focus on?

The next 25 years. If you extrapolate the last 25 years of growth, you’ll probably come out to half a million people, if we keep growing at the rate we’ve been growing at. So once you see an end result, you can develop a pathway to it, a strategy. That’s why God sees the end from the beginning. Every leader or person in management needs to see the end from the beginning.

You would have heard that Sun’s suspension has been lifted and that she is back as our executive director. What are your thoughts on this?

I think Sun is essential to the core, the fabric and the culture of the church, and her input should not be underestimated. Her concepts, her design, her input into the worship, the leadership and the people should not be undervalued in any way at all. I think she’s very key to the future of City Harvest Church.

Source: By Theresa Tan, City News, An Interview With Phil Pringle: CHC Has A Future Of Incredible Blessing, http://www.citynews.sg/2013/05/an-interview-with-phil-pringle-chc-has-a-future-of-incredible-blessing/, Updated on 22 May 2013. (Accessed 23/05/2013.)

It is fascinating that C3 reinforces the idea that when people give money to C3, miracles are unlocked. We have already covered the serious error of C3 teaching their members that we can trigger grace, buy salvation and buy miracles.

On the C3 website Pringle invites people to commit giving their cash so that “miracles unfold in people’s lives”:

“Invitation

Chris and I would like to invite you to become a Television Partner with Your Best Life. Recently you may have heard of the changes to streamline our Rise and Build, Beyond and Television Partner initiatives by combining these under the one banner called Vision Builders.

Vision Builders provides the opportunity for every member of the church to play a part in building tomorrow. We have seen miracles unfold in people’s lives as they have aligned their heart, purpose and financial resources with God’s vision to build His Church. As we each give our time and resources, together we will see lives transformed.

The new Vision Builders structure also enables us to offer tax deductibility to your giving for television where in the past it has not qualified for this. We are currently finalising our application for tax deductibility endorsement for our Television Partners initiative. We anticipate that this will be approved within the next couple of months. In the meantime we encourage you to continue to give as normal through our TV Partners program at this stage. Once our endorsement comes through, we will inform you of this and request that you redirect your television giving through the Vision Builders structure.

“If you are the Son of God, speak to these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3

Jesus responded with the following.

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

Just like Satan, Pringle below is teaching the Body of Jesus Christ to speak to their difficulties to become mammon. In fact, we have written in the past how Pringle’s idea of faith is practically connected to the ‘faith’ of the occult.

This video reveals Pringle’s inept ability to handle scripture correctly to justify his pagan faith. Pringle reduces Jesus (the Word of God Himself),to a tool, wand, law and principle, to prophesy (to speak or confess) things into existence. It becomes evident that Pringle’s double speak reveals that his confession is “Jesus is law” not Lord. For someone who doesn’t “box God” or “limit God”, Pringle does a tremendous job of enslaving God to serve his lips and heart. (See more double-speak towards end of the article.)

To Pringle, Jesus is nothing but a pagan entity summoned to fulfill Pringle’s desires. D.R. McConnell and Hank Hanegraaf document how Word Of Faith heretics like Pringle deify man and reduce the sovereignty of Christ, their historical research linking these heretical teachings to the teaching one finds in the occult. As a result of Pringle’s occult teachings, Pringle’s mutilation of the biblical texts is horrendous.

Pringle’s use of John 1 is highly blasphemous. For a start we were never in the beginning with God. To allegorise John 1 to say our beginning is 2011 and we can have the laws of the Word to speak to our future is delusional at best. The use of these biblical passages are so rorted, it is hard to dispute rationally how Pringle is so inept. Nothing in John 1 supports Pringle’s claim that we are to speak to our new year beginnings to get the things we want in the future.

Pringle’s use of Mark 11:12-14; 20-25 is not teaching us to speak to our sickness and debts in ‘faith’. While Pringle also uses “Death and life are in the power of the tongue,” (Proverbs 18:21), he treats this to be some kind of magic ritual to summon Jesus like a pagan God to do the things Pringle desires. But this passage simply talks about the influential power the tongue has over our lives and others so we can reap blessing or destruction.

Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:18-23

He is turned the church’s universal faith confession of Christ’s finished work into a money-grubby, confess-for-gain magic formula. He also unashamedly lies about what Jesus says in the bible. Jesus does not say, “You’re dried up from the roots.”

Different Spirit, Different Jesus, Different Message

Below is the transcript:

“This morning, I want to talk about creating a future. Not just trying to weather forecast what’s going to happen but actually making what’s going to happen, happen. You become partners with God in creating a future. And the greatest tool that I know for making that happen is prophesying.

One of the reasons the bible has- about one third of it’s statements are prophecies- or written by prophets, is because if they didn’t say it, it wouldn’t happen. God makes things happen through words. God created the universe through words. And at the beginning of a new year like 2012, in the beginning was the Word. Amen!

So I want us to be able to have in our lives . . . I believe in our lives we can have this Word. And we find this Word is God. That’s the amazing thing. When you speak the Word of God into a circumstance, you’re not just speaking words. You’re actually speaking God into a situation.

You can never afford to underestimate the power of your words. You have the power of life or death in your tongue. And one of the first things the devil will try and do in your world is destroy your confession or your profession, try and mangle your words or corrupt your speech so that you find yourself constantly complaining, declaring negative things about your life. “I’m to this, I’m too old, I’m too big, not skilled enough, that’ll never happen for me, this modemo [?] doesn’t work, my car’s so old, I never have enough money-“

People say that sort of stuff all day long and wonder why their lives are so awful You have got to change your mouth. You’ve got to let your tonguebe born again. I mean I know that the money issue is a big issue for some people but THIS is even bigger. I think it’s easy to convert my wallet than it is to convert my tongue. God is so specific about it all the way through scripture – ‘In the beginning’ of 2012, what are you going to prophesy about this year? What are you going to say? “Yeah I’ve tried that before but things went wrong.”

Did you keep on saying it? “No. I just agreed with the wrong things.” That’s called walking by sight not by faith. Cos you see the things that are going wrong and you’re saying, “All things are going wrong.”

You’re meant to walk by the Word Of God and speak what it’s saying, no matter how long it takes for that circumstance to conform to the reality you are speaking. Your reality is a higher reality then what’s surrounding you. It doesn’t negate it. I’m not talking about some denial or a Christian Science thinking where we don’t even acknowledge that there is evil. No there is evil. There’s things that go wrong. No denying that!

But you see, one law defeats another law in the worlds of God. Okay, their is a law of gravity. There’s a law of gravity. It’s very powerful law. It works all day long. It works as you get older in a very serious manner, amen.

There’s this gravity that pulls- keeps us on earth! It’s good. But it makes things fall. But you know? There’s a law of aerodynamics. You can overcome the law of gravity. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It just means you found a law that overcomes another law. And if you push the thing forward with a certain winged structure, you lift off and gravity has no power over you. You’ve beaten it.

[5:19] And so when you have things going wrong in your life, there is a law by which you can actually transform that thing. And that’s by understanding that in the beginning of anything that God does, is the Word. At the beginning. It’s the seed of your future.

The beginning of this year, 2012, make sure the Word, the Word of God is in your lips. and the Word about this coming year. OK. Now we suddenly go to a new word here. He was in the beginning. When Jesus was on earth, He went about doing good in healing all who were oppressed by the devil. [6:02] The Word is Jesus. It’s not an ‘it’. It’s ‘He’ was in the beginning with God.

[6:10] As soon as you start speaking the bible, the scriptures, into your circumstance, Jesus leaps out of your mouth and starts walking into your circumstance, casting out demons, healing the sick, stilling the storm, walking on water supernaturally, making things happen that wouldn’t happen unless you did it.

[6:31]Here’s the thing guys. When I first discovered this, which was nearly forty years ago, I- I was nervous about sharing it with anybody. Cos I thought, ‘If they get a hold of this, there will be too much competition. This is really good! It works! Aw! I’m not going to tell anybody! It’s like I got a secret here that-‘

The Lord said, ‘Share it and I’ll give you more’.

‘Alright.’ So I shared it. But I didn’t need to worry. I don’t need to worry at all. Cos nobody does it. You see cos you’re sitting here going, ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah’ but you’re going to walk out of here. You gotta do this!”

It’s not agreeing with me going, “Yeah! Amen! Wow! That’s powerful!

[8:00] “I’m talking about a thing called the Word of God. And it is more enduring and powerful than anything you’ve got within your reach. And when you start to speak that, you’re putting something into your world, into your future that is undefeatable because it’s Jesus Himself. And they tried to crucify him once. It didn’t work. He’s a get-up-and-go kinda guy. And he just got up out of that grave. Death couldn’t hold him. Sickness couldn’t hold him. Killing him couldn’t hold him. It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your circumstance, it can’t hold you down if you’ll put the Word of God into your circumstance. Resurrection comes into your finances, comes into your family, comes into your home, comes into your people, into your work, into every area of your life.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Oh- now you got me going. . .

[10:04] All things were made by Him. Not evolved. They were made complete and finished. They were complete. We’re going the other way guys! We’re not going up. We’re gonna- the earth is going to fold up and all be gone. I- and you know I’m just grieving. If it was anybody, I would save the tigers. But the fact is, is- the deal is that the bible says, “Oh! It’s decaying. It’s physical. It’s got a lifespan. It’s got a shelf-life.” He says, “I’m making you a new eternal home.” And he only took six days with this one. He’s taken two thousand years with the other one. The new one. Can you imagine what it’s gonna be like? This place is pretty amazing.

So here He is. All things are made by Him and without Him, nothing was made that was made. Everything’s beautiful in the world. Jesus is beautiful. Mountains, oceans, bananas, pelicans, you. It’s all beautiful! Mostly. Amen! No, you are!

Without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life. The life was the light of men. Light shines in the darkness and the darkness didn’t comprehend it. Or in other versions, ‘did not overcome it’. All right!

So, God’s spoke and said, ‘Let there be light’. That’s how He did it. What are you going to prophesy over your year ahead? What are you gonna say?

And once you’ve stated it, Hebrews 10:23 here says, “Let us hold fast the confession-” that word is also profession, which is a Greek word: homologia. And that means to speak the same thing. I’m writing in tongues.

Let us hold fast the profession- hold it fast cos it slips away. Your salvation is based on this: “He who believes with his heart and confesses with his mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord shall be saved.”

And so here’s the thing. Once you’ve got this profession in your life. This confession of hope or this confession of faith, without wavering, you’ll discover that God is able to bring to pass the words you are speaking. When you combine what you are wanting to happen with God’s Word, you’ll find faith comes on the inside of you to actually bring it to pass.

Jesus did this . . . over in Mark 11 verse- when he’s speaking about a fig tree. It says, “Now in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.” I mean, some of you got some stuff you needed dried up from the roots. But a- he says, “And Peter remembering him remembering him said, Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered him and said, Have faith in God. I say to you, Whosoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea; and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things that he says will come to pass; he shall have whatever he says.”

[13:28] The reason you need to hold fast the confessional profession of your faith, is because once you start speaking it, [it] doesn’t immediately appear to change anything. It’s not a Harry Potter magic wand thing. Woo! BAM!!! And it just changes.

When Jesus spoke to that fig tree nothing looked different. It looked exactly the same. The surprise was the disciples the next day saying, “Look! That fig tree’s now died!” It didn’t look dead yesterday the way- leaves are still waving in the wind. Your debts are hanging around in the wind. The sickness is still waving in the wind. Leaves are still there. The tree’s looking good. But Jesus said, “You’re dried up from the roots.” But it was still there. It still looked alive.

It took a day to take effect. If Jesus’ words take a day to effect, you should not be worried if something you’re saying is taking a year. Amen. He did live on a slightly different plain to the rest of us. So what you are saying with your mouth is forming your world. And if you are unhappy with your would as it is, the thing that changes is not to try to change your world but change the thing that’s making your world, which is your mouth. And you have complete control and government over that thing.

But you know, you know James says the tongue, is very hard to control. Slippery little sucker aint it and you know. Kay. It just comes out. And isn’t it awful when you something and you’re- and it’s gone out and you’re going, “I wish I didn’t say that.” And you want to pull it back. It’s a very powerful thing, your mouth. You don’t want to underestimate it and think, “I can say what I like. But God’s still bigger- He’s gonna make things happen. He’s given you laws to live by, principles to live by- and you can’t blame Him for stuff actually has comes out of our activities.

There’s no good- if you drive on the wrong side of the road and you have a smash, don’t go down to the Roads & Traffic Authorities saying, “Hey! I had a smash you guys!” They’ll say, “What side of the road were you driving on?”

“Well, I drove on that side. I just felt like I wanted to. You know. It’s my time to drive on the other side of the road.” Well that’s – you missed the point. We do it because it’s not our fault. We have got responsibility for saying, “You know what? I’ going to use my tongue as a powerful instrument for creating the future. In the beginning of 2012, I resolve inside my self, that I’m going to control this sucker. And I’m actually gonna bring about all kinds of beautiful things in my life because God has given me the power of creativity. I’m a child of a creator. [15:55] And in my life is the same genetic code that’s in His life. He created by speaking. I am- like a child of His, will create my world by speaking into it in Jesus name.” And every body said: Amen.”

Jesus is Pringle’s wand to get what he wants. His allusions to witch craft (Harry Potter) and Christian Science indicates he possibly knows what he is peddling. If he is dead honest in his confession that ‘God’ spoke to him about this ‘secret’ , then he has heard from a demon. Pringle’s faith is not taught in Christianity. But his teaching is promoted in the metaphysical cults and the occult. Ronda Byrne’s book, ‘The Secret’ reveals Pringle’s true spirituality. Read here.

If you follow this article, we record Pringle teaching people they are “involved with a person, not just a principle, living this Christian life is a whole lot different.” This is clearly double speak again.

Finally, to stress emphatically the source of this teaching, we would like to point out Pringle saying,

“When I first discovered this, which was nearly forty years ago, I- I was nervous about sharing it with anybody. Cos I thought, ‘If they get a hold of this, there will be too much competition. This is really good! It works! Aw! I’m not going to tell anybody! It’s like I got a secret here that-‘

The Lord said, ‘Share it and I’ll give you more’.”

Pringle indeed has “a secret”. Once you compare Pringle’s faith to New Age Rhonda Byrne’s ‘faith’ in her book ‘The Secret’ above, a plausible claim can be made that Pringle is receiving a demonic doctrine. Pringle has made a deal with a spirit that is not of God. This spirit is not the Holy Spirit. It is not God. Why? Jesus says this about the Holy Spirit,

“Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” John 16:7-12

The spirit Pringle got this ‘secret’ from simply reduced Jesus to a spiritual law, confined to a sinners lips. It glorifies the sinner and takes glory away from God. This spirit has convinced Pringle that he could be like Jesus and speak to his circumstantial stones to become mammon.

It is sad to see such a man applauded by a congregation who does not test his teachings against God’s Word. If you feel led, please pray for Phil Pringle and those in the C3 movement who are deceived by his false teachings.

Last year at Pringle’s Kuala Lumpur ‘Vision 2020 C3 Church Global Conference’, Pringle had this to say about “intellectual idiots” versus the spiritually passionate.

“Think of people in your church that are on fire. Charles Finney said, “The people who are on fire in your church are the people who are reaching the world”. If your youth are on fire, you’re gonna reach youth. So that is why you should be attempting to get every group of person on fire in your church.

Now if you were to think through your people, some of the times, the people who are on fire are the least equipped to do the job. But I would say passion is the first prerequisite. The last thing I want is a well educated idiot – drip, trying to lead our people. Just because he’s got education. Or a well-versed orator or whatever. I want anointed, on-fire, people who’ve got passion in their soul and they will set your church on fire. Keeping the fire in your church is really important.”

In the above segment Pringle teaches how to get someone on “fire”. It’s not the preaching of the gospel. It’s the truth of God’s Word. It’s behavioural control.

The bible doesn’t teach this insanity. It is obvious that Pringle has abandoned the truth to stir people up and has exchanged the truth to promote lies. It seems pretty clear that Pringle wants all his pastors through out his movement to use these cult-like techniques to control people.

But what does this mean? What is this saying about those in C3 leadership? If Pringle reacts against intellectualism, then what is the implication of those in C3 leadership? Are they considered stupid because they fell for Pringle’s manipulative techniques? Are they solely there because Pringle keeps manufacturing revivals to fool them to keep going? Are they passionately pursuing the carrot Pringle is hovering over their faces? Will they ever be like Pringle?

If anything – this echoes what Chris Rosebrough is investigating at ‘Fighting For the Faith’. We invite readers to compare what Chris Rosebrough is exploring in relation to Pringle’s behaviour, teaching and methodologies above. (Please fully investigate this resource and listen to the lectures.)

Pringle made the above commentary in 2011. However, in this years 2012 Presence Conference, Pringle said something almost identical.

Let’s face it – it’s pretty dumb to say this again, considering the fact that at Presence Conference 2012 onlookers from other churches were present.

One has to ask the question: Why is Pringle all for passionate spirituality but not intellectual spirituality? Do you think Pringle appeals to peoples emotions over their intellect so he can control them for his gain?

It grieves us to see this kind of behaviour endorsed in high places. Please pray for Phil Pringle and the C3 movement. No one deserves to be treated like this. If you feel lead, please pray for change.

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